By JC
Thus spoke President Obama in his outgoing way. Actually and literally going out, as in leaving office in less than a month. So let’s all remember that the politics of fear is being ingrained into the populace by our dearly departing Democrat administration and all of its neocon/liberal interventionists as a way to poison future relations with Russia and other countries.
It is tantamount to throwing a temper tantrum in the West Wing — burning the furniture, scattering files, and scrambling contact info in an attempt to muddy the waters the incoming foreign policy and national security teams will have to wallow in. And that is dangerous for all of us who have to live through the next 4 years with a foreign policy that has yet to take any form, other than a few twittered one-liners.
George W. Bush applied these fear-based tactics right after he entered office, and used them to lie his way into starting a needless war, and to coast through 8 years of horrendous foreign policy: you’re either with us or you’re with the enemy.
Hillary Clinton would have continued to use similar tactics (can you say “no fly zone in Syria”) to ice another 8 years of Clintonism. This would have brought the total to potentially 32 years of interventionist foreign policy, as Bush’s foreign policy (Doctrine of Preemption) was but a continuation of the path that Bill Clinton set forth (building on Reagan and G.H.W. Bush’s return to publicly acceptable warfare after the Vietnam debacle), and that Barack Obama was afraid to derail as he tiptoed into office.
Of course people will say, but there is evidence! Well, to quote the DHS, there is a hefty “as is” disclaimer on the accompanying report:
This report is provided “as is” for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within. DHS does not endorse any commercial product or service referenced in this advisory or otherwise.
In other words, buyer beware. Evidence not included. Propaganda alert! Here is a link to the full DHS report. Have at it. Couple of caveats, this report will undoubtedly be used by Russia as reason to illuminate our cyber espionage on other countries and elections in retaliation.
It used to be that when you heard words like “for informational purposes only” it was associated with a game not intended to be taken seriously (i.e. “for entertainment purposes only”). So we are led to believe that our sanctions and actions are publicly legitimized by a nebulous “for informational purposes only” document, yet behind the scenes are real actions of state, or declarations of cyber war that are based on what evidential fact?
The chasm between evidence and material provided “for informational purposes only” is vast. I am reminded of Colin Powell selling Bush’s lies to the U.N. in preparation for going to war on Iraq. And the hypocrisy here is breathtaking — surely the exceptional country is the only one allowed to engage in cyber electoral warfare or regime change!
But undoubtedly Obama’s actions are intended to hamstring Trump, and give the official “conspiracy theory” about how and why Hillary Clinton lost the election the White House’s seal of approval. The “facts” have been created or mangled, stories have been planted in the mainstream media, and the Ministry of Truth’s paid op-ed writers are getting to work churning out the pablum dictated by the new “Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act” that snuck through Obama’s office on Christmas Eve (now there’s a lump of coal for you!).
And as to there still being almost 4 weeks till Trump’s inauguration, many more land mines will be laid in the fields of opportunity that we call “foreign policy.” The trip wires are being installed, invisible red lines drawn, threats uttered behind closed doors, and covert actions taken. Unfortunately, many of these will only be discovered when they are leaked by whistleblowers, extracted by hackers, or have been actualized and set irreversible and public actions in motion.
Obama has turned his sham interventionist foreign policy into a nuclear hot potato for an incompetent Commander in Chief CEO and board of execs and generals to handle. The tools of fascism handed to Obama by Bush, Cheney & Co, and Bill Clinton have been carefully nurtured and expanded. Now we get to see what the real crazies get to do with them.
JC
I put this essay on my Facebook page. Some text wouldn’t copy though. I’m fed up with “the Russians did it” line.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46120.htm Look up, livestock. What do you see?
Slaughterers are sharpening their knives. Kosher killing — draining ALL the (USA’s) blood — isn’t supposed to be that painful.
Hey JC – you almost have it figured out, you are very close.
But the primary reason for this whole ‘issue’ is to try to convince us that Trumps election was illegitimate because of the Russians interference.
Look at the facts – before the election, the DNC emails kept getting exposed – they exposed the DNC’s Hillary bias over Bernie, rigging the Super-delegates, the media and Clinton campaign being one and the same, etc. Nobody has disputed that those emails were accurate, but if you can’t blame them for Hillary’s loss they would have to admit that she was a deeply flawed candidate without a message, who couldn’t close the deal. They are not going to admit that, and in fact, by the Dems re-electing Pelosi/Schumer are their party leaders, it shows they intend to double down on doing business as usual. They will continue to push gun control, special rights for gays, and destroying our economy as a sacrifice to the religion of Climate Change, because the 82% of the counties in America who voted for Trump are too dumb to know what they did.
As far as an incompetent Commander in Chief, we’ve had one for 8 years, wouldn’t you agree?
Happy New Year !
“Special rights for gays”? Do you also dislike “special rights” for black people? Or indigenous people? Or are you just saying this to get attention?
Turner – every legislative session somebody introduces legislation to make anybody deciding to be a homosexual a ‘victim’ and to give them special preferences and rights.
I’ve spent most of my life in sales, but you don’t see me pushing for “Hit a Salesman go to jail” law, do you? If I go into a bakery and want a wedding cake with miniature power tools on it and they refuse I don’t get to sue, do I? I consider myself a victim too maybe!
Eric, I was able to determine Obama’s hope and change was a fraud when he–I mean, when Citibank–picked his cabinet. I wonder how long, if ever, Trump supporters will figure out they were duped.
If he doesn’t build the wall, crack down on muslim terrorists, and get our economy going they won’t wonder if they were duped, they’ll know.
Meaningless title, don’t you think? Commander of what: The West Wing?
Imagine my disappointment when I started to read JC’s post.
I though it was titled, “All Americans should be Armed”.
I don’t feel like chasing down links right now, but I’ve read that prepper sales are way down, and liberals are actually purchasing firearms.
They’re buying guns and prepping.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-23/suddenly-liberals-are-ones-stockpiling-food-guns-and-emergency-supplies
It seems we are re-living history, doesn’t it? I remember when I was 12, the ‘old’ guys were worried that Nixon would declare himself dictator and take over America. I don’t remember who said it, but he said it’d never happen because we still have our guns. That was 40 years ago, and we are still discussing the 2nd Amendment as our freedom guarantee.
Eric, make sure you tell Tester how wonderful Obamacare is.
http://www.tester.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=4903
Nixon was far more “progressive” than either Obama or either Clinton. That’s how far right the dems have moved. Here’s a short list of acts Nixon signed into law, or actions he took:
1) NEPA
2) Clean Air Act of 1970
3) Established the EPA
4) Marine Mammal Protection Act
5) Safe Drinking Water Act
6) Endangered Species Act
7) Created cabinet-level Council on Environmental Quality
8) Halted all dumping in the Great Lakes
9) Created NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
10) Clean Water Act of 1972
11) Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972
12) Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972
13) Toxic Substances Control Act
14) Equal Employment Opportunity Act
15) Occupation Safety and Health Administration
16) He advocated singe payer health care and solar and wind power
17) created the Office of Minority Business Enterprise.
18) Signed disarmament ABM missile treaty and interim SALT Agreements of 1972 with USSR
19) Required affirmative action for federal contractors
20) Founded the Legal Services Corporation to assist the poor
21) Opposed school prayer
22) Ended the draft
23) SIgned 1970 extension to Voting Rights Act and promoted/signed the 26th Amendment giving 18 year olds the right to vote
24) Was for gun control
And on and on… If he was to be a dictator, he would have been a benevolent one. Chomsky called him our last truly liberal president. Others have said that he would be far too liberal for democrats to nominate for president today. He would be crucified by today’s republicans.
Nixon didn’t come close to 97,000 pages of red tape.
“President Barack Obama’s administration has added record levels of new regulation in the year 2016, with 18 regulations added for every new law, according to a new analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Whilst Congress passed 211 laws over the course of the year, they had an accompanying 3,852 new federal regulations, costing billions of dollars in both implementation and losses to businesses. This was 443 more regulations than 2015.
There was also a record number of pages of red tape, with 97,110 pages printed on the 2016 Federal Register.”-Breitbart
Not including Obamacare, of course.
“Obamacare is fully implemented January 1st, even though the regulations haven’t been written yet. And Brian, we’ve got 33,000 pages of regulations that they’ve already written. If we stacked it up here, it would be seven feet tall.”
— Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)